We are really pleased with how everyone is enjoying the story so far, and there will be plenty of twists and turns. Updates will be weekly, and this story will be dark in places. Warnings will be given, when a sensitive topic is mentioned.
Special thanks to abstract0118, Vintage Vixxin, Katie MacAlpine and Emersonian for reviewing the story, and special thanks to nightsinshadow, and peace46 for following the story. Thank you, iqbal41 and LadySapphire for following the story.
Devil's Backbone
Chapter 2
Bucky felt stunned at what he was seeing as he saw the young woman break into Natasha's room. She came out freshly showered and wearing Natasha's clothes. He couldn't see her face, as she had back turned to the cameras before walking down the hallway and going into Wanda's bedroom.
She came out a few minutes later, with nothing but plenty of bottles of Wanda's shampoo and conditioner. Wanda looked stunned by what she was seeing, watching as she walked further down the hallway.
The woman then broke into Yelena's bedroom. She was in there far longer than she had been in Wanda's room, and sooner or later the woman left with a suitcase, before the security camera went fuzzy.
"We don't have any security footage of her face, as she kept her back to the cameras. She knew where she was going…but why did she go into Wanda, Yelena and Natasha's bedrooms?" Billy asked wearily. They didn't even know who she was.
"Natasha and Yelena believe that someone escaped the HYDRA base in Belarus and hid on the quinjet. I want Romanoff, Russo, Belova, and Stark to check the HYDRA base again to see if we missed something," Fury instructed sternly. Everyone nodded and left to do what the director had instructed.
"Where do you want the rest of us, sir?" Steve asked gravely. He knew this was serious. Whoever this woman was, she'd been able to remain undetected by F.R.I.D.A.Y.
"I want you, Barnes, Barton, Maximoff, Ward, and Wilson to search the nearby streets for any sign of this woman. Whoever she is, she might be a threat to us," Fury said gravely, and everyone nodded in understanding.
The flight to Madripoor was eight hours. Ana passed the time by catching up with the world events that had occurred when she had been placed in cyro by her handlers. The WHIH news was reporting on a terrorist group called the Flag Smashers being sent to an underwater prison called the Raft, along with their sympathizers.
The group had blown up a GRC Supply Depot in Riga, Latvia, killing seventy-nine people and injuring plenty of civilians. Five of the victims had families, with one having just started the job, and was a father of two.
She shook her head in disgust. Ana was no saint in any way. She had blood on her hands, but she never deliberately tried to kill civilians during her missions.
The faces of the people she had killed in the name of HYDRA or the Red Room cut her deeply. She had never wanted this life when she had lived at the orphanage. All she had dreamed about was of becoming a ballet dancer, like her mother before she had passed away.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to land at Madripoor airport. There will be slight turbulence due to strong winds," the voice of the pilot announced gravely. Everyone fastened their seat belts, and Ana avoided looking out of the window.
She loved the sea, but she had a terrible fear of drowning after one of the girls in the Red Room nearly drowned her at the swimming pool.
The plane landed gracefully with people gradually leaving. Ana allowed a couple to leave first before she went to exit. She went into the airport, as she walked to the luggage hold area, and grabbed her suitcase, heading out as quickly as possible.
Her next stop was going to High Town and getting settled in. She needed to find information on all these players, including on Peggy Carter's niece who was still living in Madripoor, despite being pardoned by the US government.
She put on her dark tinted sunglasses, before going to the garage and found a black Suzuki Ignis in the car park. She smiled slightly before picking up the keys, and saw the car had black tinted windows.
She hoped the windows were bulletproof, but she decided not to tempt fate.
At least, not yet.
Bucky was in the living room with Steve, Sam, Wanda, Grant, and Clint, reading through the documents about the Black Widow Ops program. It felt like a dead end, until he saw a name on the list of girls in the program.
'Anastasia Liukin.'
"Are we sure that Natasha and Yelena were the only two who survived the Red Room Program? What if someone else survived?" Sam was the one who asked question that all of them had been thinking.
An uneasy silence fell upon them. Natasha and Yelena were very secretive about their time in the Red Room. Bucky knew both of them due to having trained them in the Red Room, and his past relationship with Natasha.
Not that it was something that either he nor Natasha liked to be reminded or think about. He didn't have happy memories of his time in the Red Room. If anything, it was something that gave him nightmares.
He was the bogeyman to the girls in the Red Room. A terrifying man who would harshly discipline them if they failed in any of the lessons. Failure in ballet, languages, gymnastics, or espionage was not tolerated by the superiors in the Red Room.
Faintly, he remembered a young woman around eighteen being sent to be trained by him. She had been Yelena's age, but the superiors and other girls hadn't liked the fact that she still remained kind, even refusing to kill other girls in the class.
He didn't know what had happened to her, but he knew Melina Vostokoff had worked as a trainer in the academy. He hated the cold bitch, and she didn't like him either and neither did her husband.
Hmm…he really did wonder what happened to her. Thinking about her more, all he could remember is her refusal every time they tried to trick her into doing something painful. She was so sweet…The Red Room must have ruined her. They never let anyone out who doesn't obey them.
Goddamnit…he wished his memory weren't so damn fuzzy.
"This file really says everything we need to know," Steve states quietly, turning the pages. "Anastasia Liukin…a young girl who grew up in an orphanage after her mother died…the daughter of Melina, holy shit…Nat might know something seriously about this girl. Yelena too."
Sam takes the folder from him, looking over it quickly. "She was abandoned at an orphanage until she was seven and then they took her away to the Red Room under the guise she would be a ballerina…there they trained her." He lowers the file and looks to Steve. "They have to know something about this…but why would they keep it a secret?"
"Maybe she's really dangerous?" Wanda suggests.
"It's not like them to keep dangerous threats from us," Clint argues quietly. "There has to be another reason why."
"Hold on a minute," Steve mutters, getting up and heading over to where the taping was from earlier, playing it back on the screen. He had the file in one hand and looked back and forth as the video played. "What if the possible person that snuck into here was her?"
"But they said-"
"Wanda, I don't know if you know this, but Nat and Yelena have plenty of secrets from us," Steve says quietly, turning to her. "If this was another one of their secrets, then I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe the moment we got into the HYDRA base, we activated something, and it woke her up if she was in cyro or something, like Buck was. What if the reason she didn't activate F.R.I.D.A.Y. was because she's a spy like them? A soldier?"
Steve looks over at Bucky, who was continuously looking at a picture of the girl from before. His brow furrows.
"What's up, Bucky?"
"I…I think I saw her."
Everyone's eyes turn to him, all their attention focused on his one phrase. God, he hated being the center of their eyes. Steve walks over to where he sat, moving to sit next to him. "What do you mean?"
"I…wanted a quick drink of coffee and something sweet…Alpine was resting and I decided to head down to the coffee shop below my place to grab something and there was this girl who…bought two cookies for herself and a coffee…I didn't have enough money to get my own cookie and she overheard so she came over and gave one of hers to me…I felt like she looked familiar, I…I didn't know if it was her or not, I…" He runs his hands through his hair. "I'm sorry, guys."
"Bucky, don't apologize. It has nothing to do with you. Not like we knew any better at the time." He looks down at the file. "However, if it was, we might be able to figure out where she is now. Maybe if we confront Nat and Yelena with this information, we can figure out how to find her."
Bucky nods quietly. "Okay…okay, yeah, we can do that."
She had to admit, the Power Broker was hard to get by, but after some scrounging around, Ana was able to set up a meeting with the guy, having to stumble into his overtly large and grand apartment. She had to admit, it was quite the nice place.
Part of her wished it were hers.
"Ah, I see you've finally arrived," a voice called out to her as she walked into a large living room. She raises her brow to see a man come out who honestly didn't look like much, but she knew the power he had. "The woman of the hour. The escaped Red Room agent. The-"
"Cut the crap," she states, crossing her arms against her chest. "Let's get down to business. I have a lot of money and I certainly can't use it in the United States. I want to start up here. What are my options?"
The man chuckles and shakes his head. "You are assertive, I'll give you that." He grabs a drink for her, but she dismisses it, taking a seat down. She wasn't dumb enough to accept a drink from a stranger. The man shrugs and turns back around. "Having a tough day, huh?"
"It's any other day. I just want to make sure I can afford the place I'm staying at, is all," she states lightly, looking up at him. "And I know that you can be the man to do that."
The Power Broker snickers and shakes his head, going to sit opposite from her. "You're sweet to think you can suddenly overwhelm me like that, but if work is what you want, it is what you can get. You're a strong little girl, huh?" She feels her hands turn to fists. She hated when people said that. "I can tell from that face you got. There's years of death in those eyes, huh?"
"Are you going to give me a job or not?" She asks through gritted teeth.
"Isaiah Bradley," he states simply before grabbing a remote from the couch, pulling up a picture on the TV in front of them. "Do you know of him?"
"I've…heard of him," she states slowly. "He was a test subject for the Super-Soldier serum years ago, but they really did really bad shit to him. Have no idea where he is now, though."
"Well, I do," the Power Broker states, standing. "Isaiah is currently in Baltimore, Maryland, assumingly trying to hide out the rest of his days. But I don't plan for that to happen."
Ana stands, her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"You see, Anastasia-"
"Ana," she corrects.
"Ana," he answers, with a grim smile. "I'm in the business of power. I give people the power that they want for a price. One of those ways I have done it is through the Super Soldier serum…sadly, those bloody Avengers took out one of my main scientists that was recreating the serum for me…but luckily, when one person falls, two others shall take their place. They have all of the info that they need to continue making the serum and bringing me more power than before, but all I need is Isiah."
Ana stares at him in horror. "You're going to make more of those serums that killed so many people? That created those Flag-Smashers? There has to be another way-"
"There is no other way for power, my dear," the man states, coming over to her. "You want safety? You want to make sure you're in charge of your life? You capture Isiah for me with your skills, and I'll make sure that money you have will never leave your side, and the power you gain will only grow. It's your choice."
Ana didn't even know what to say. She knew what the serum did to people. She knew how terrifying it was. There was no way she was going to let someone like him take that again. Let him control people with that.
So, she swallows and takes a step back, before grabbing the drink he had offered her earlier. Fuck it. "You can't find anyone else?" she asks slightly, feeling around her belt for a moment. "To do this dirty work?"
"I could, but I'm quite positive that having someone from the Red Room do it for me would be the best option, for you and myself."
She nods slightly before turning to face him, swallowing the whole drink in one sitting. It was now or never. "You see…I've always been in favour of getting what I want, so yes, in your eyes, this might be your best option for me…but it's not in my head." She lowers the glass to the table. "For me, the best option IS Madripoor…owning the city as you do. Isaiah Washington has been through hell and back, and I don't intend to bring him forward to endure more of that pain."
The man lowers his glass to the table. "Ana, I-"
"I'm going to kill you, Power Broker," she states coldly. "You have five seconds to run."
He takes off. She counts to five, and then runs quicker, going directly after him.
She chased him through the apartment, catching sight of him trying to run through the back garden once he exited his place. She caught up to him, just as he was heading out, before grabbing him by the back of his jacket, throwing him into the side of a back entrance door. She glared at him in disgust, before dragging him towards her.
"I've seen men like you before who don't give a damn about the people they hurt," she said dangerously. The Power Broker started laughing then at her, causing her to stare at him in confusion.
"Do you really think I didn't have a contingency plan in place if you refused to capture Isiah, Ana? I sent a black ops team to capture him. I've known where he lives all this time. And if he dies, then I'll just simply use his grandson," he said smugly. Ana saw red in that moment, and promptly knocked him to the point of being unconscious.
She pulled out a disposable cell phone, typing in the number and waited impatiently as the phone rang. Finally, after seven rings, the woman answered.
"Sharon Carter of Carter Art speaking. How can I help you?" the woman asked pleasantly. Ana decided that she needed to meet with her face to face. But no way in hell, was she giving her real name. She'd use another name. There were a few names that held deep, fond memories for her.
"Hello, Miss Carter. This is Olga Omelianchik speaking. I need to speak with you urgently. Is there a place that we can talk?" She asked calmly. Sharon paused on the line.
"We'll meet at my place. I'll send a car to pick you up. What's this about?" She asked wearily, causing Ana to smile slightly. The woman wasn't stupid.
Then again, the niece of Peggy Carter wouldn't be stupid.
"Isaiah Bradley. And send me the address. I'll drive there," Ana answered firmly. Sharon agreed and texted her the address after hanging up.
She looked disdainfully at the Power Broker's unconscious body before tying his hands with vibranium handcuffs. She dragged him to the car, throwing his body in the back of the trunk, before starting up the engine and driving away.
Natasha sighed tiredly as they once again began searching the HYDRA base. There was nothing to see until she found a room that had at least ten cyrostasis chambers. One of them looked like it had been recently used, and she noticed footprints on the dust covered floor. Someone had definitely been here recently, but she had no idea who it was.
Her mind then wondered to a young girl with light blonde hair, and hazel eyes but her thoughts were interrupted when a voice spoke out.
"Anything?" Yelena asked quietly, as she stepped into the room. Natasha shook her head. There wasn't any sign of the mysterious woman but whoever the woman was, she was dangerous.
"Nothing aside from an abandoned cyrostasis chamber. I found this file along with a backpack in a safe, but no dice," she answered wearily, showing Yelena the backpack, along with the files.
They were all in Russian, which would be translated once they returned to the compound. Sighing, Natasha was relieved when they left the building and made their way to the jet.
She couldn't help but feel like she had seen that woman on the security footage before.
Sharon waited wearily for the mysterious young woman to meet with her, and saw a black Suzuki Ignis parking in the driveway. A young blonde-haired young woman came out of the car, wearing a black leather jacket. She looked at her silently.
"Sharon Carter?" She asked wearily, Sharon nodded and shook her hand as they walked to the back of the car. Sharon had a feeling that this woman didn't take anyone's bullshit.
"That's me…and you are?" She asked cautiously. The young woman smiled slightly at her question. It didn't look like she smiled a lot. Her eyes were hard and guarded.
"Ana Liukin…I have a proposition for you that I believe will benefit both of us, and your friends who happen to be the Avengers? I know you helped them when Zemo killed Dr. Nadler," Ana offered. Sharon stared at her in surprise before nodding and the woman opened the boot of her car to the young woman.
Sharon was greeted by the sight of the Power Broker, tied up and unconscious in Ana's car. She stared at Ana in a stunned silence, before regaining her composure.
"What do you need my help with?" She asked cautiously as Ana admired the cherry blossom trees that were blooming in her garden.
"I need you to send a message to the Avengers about Isaiah Washington. The Power Broker sent a black ops team to capture him and his grandson. He wants to recreate the super-soldier serum," she explained quickly to her, Sharon nodded in understanding, and glanced at the Power Broker.
"What are you going to do about him?" She questioned curiously, genuinely interested.
"I'll deal with him, don't worry…I think it's time that Madripoor had a new leader, one that cleans up the place," Ana answered smoothly, before getting in her car and driving away.
Sharon watched her go, impressed but also stunned by what the younger woman was doing.
Sam felt his phone vibrate before turning it on and seeing a text from Sharon. He frowned. Sharon had been working undercover for Fury but hadn't come back after the Flag Smashers and Karli had all been killed.
'Isaiah Bradley's been compromised. The Power Broker's sent a black ops team to kidnap him and his grandson. Get them out of there, Sam!'
"Steve, Bucky, Clint! Wanda! We need to get to Baltimore NOW!" He shouted urgently.
"Whoa, whoa, what's going on?" Bucky asks, running over to him as soon as he heard him yelling.
"It's Isaiah. The Power Broker sent a team after him – we need to stop them now!" He urges. "Sharon just let me know!"
Steve nods, a determined look on his face. "Then let's get going."
They had raced out to the quinjet as soon as possible, getting on as quickly as they could until they raced off to where Baltimore was. Luckily, the city wasn't too far with their mode of transportation, and within a little bit of time, they had arrived, heading straight to where Isiah's house was.
As soon as they did, they could see that there were people trying to break in. But that ended almost as quickly as it began, as Steve had used his shield to knock out several of the guys while the rest of them got to work. Bucky took out a couple with his skills, Sam with his gear, Clint with his arrows and Wanda with her powers.
It was times like this that Bucky actually remembered that they worked well as a team most of the time. He wished they were given more things to do like this. Show his worth to more people.
Once the threat was taken out, they called the police, getting them, all sent to their cars. Bucky had wiped the blood from his face as he takes a seat down, watching as Isiah talked to Steve quietly, thanking him for coming. Even in his age with the serum, Isiah was still old. He wouldn't have been able to take on all those guys at once.
"You doing alright?" He hears from above, seeing Wanda take a seat down next to him. "Seems like you're lost up here." She points to her head.
Bucky chuckles a bit and shrugs his shoulders. "Just thinking about everything we do…I feel like Fury doesn't…I don't know, trust me enough yet." He looks over at her. "It's always team missions and it's never really with the ones that work together – all of us work well but then I go on missions with Sam, and we get along fine but Tony is there, or Yelena might come…I just wish more people would trust me, but I know nothing is built overnight."
Wanda sighs quietly before gesturing to her. "When I first came here, he didn't trust me either. It takes time to gain the man's trust. You did try to kill him once."
Bucky cringes before rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, you're right about that." At that moment, Clint comes around, his phone in his hands. "Hey, did you eve
Bucky cringes before rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, you're right about that." At that moment, Clint comes around, his phone in his hands. "Hey, did you ever ask Sharon how she found that out?"
"I did but she's being sort of sketch about it," Sam answers honestly. "She won't tell me. Says there was some deal between her and a girl. Don't know who…but whoever it is, apparently she's taking down the Power Broker."
Bucky's brow raises in surprise. "Just like that? She pops up out of nowhere?"
"Sometimes that happens. A brand-new enemy comes around and makes the weaker one bite the dust," Clint remarks, sharpening his arrows. "If she is becoming a new Power Broker, we need to keep an eye out then…but if she was like the current one, then why would she warn us?"
That was the question everyone was thinking. And no one quite had the answer to it.
As soon as she had dragged the Power Broker out of her car and back into his fancy shmancy apartment, he was practically begging for his life. She had him pinned up to a chair in his kitchen, her knife at his neck. She had told him about how she stopped his plan, how nothing was going to work as he had wanted, and now, he was going to die. He pleaded, screamed, tried to bargain, but in the end, all she wanted was his seat. His place. His power.
So, she slits his neck. His blood flies onto her clothes, but she doesn't flinch.
It doesn't take long for the life in him to drain out, and she tilts her head, looking at the dead body, all she can think is how aggravating it was going to be cleaning the blood from the floor. She undoes his handcuffs and watches as the body fell.
If she had this power…she was surely going to make sure someone else took this damn body away. She was done hiding her sins.
"Excuse me?" She calls out to an intercom, which she is met with a surprising "Yes?" She responds "Your little leader is dead. I request you come up and take him before I take you out too."
There was silence on the other line for a good couple of seconds before the respond with a "Yes, ma'am."
Now THAT sounded good.
She took a shower after that, and by the time she had emerged with new clothes, the body was gone, and the blood cleaned. She smiles as she heads into the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of wine from his wine fridge and takes a seat down, glancing outside at the skyline of Madripoor.
This whole city would be hers…at a cost.
The Power Broker would kill anyone innocent to get what he wants. She drew the line at that…God knows she had done enough of it long ago.
Ana sighs as she takes a sip of her wine, remembering her last moments in New York City. Her mind kept going back to the man in the coffee shop she had met not long before her flight. What was it about him? Was it his eyes? His hair? His beard? Why was she spending so much time-
She gasps, the glass suddenly dropping from her hand and onto the floor, shattering. A pillar of memories struck her.
That man wasn't a stranger. That man was the fucking Winter Soldier. The man that had trained her in the Red Room.
"H…holy shit," she whispers, bringing a hand to her mouth in shock. It all made sense now. Why he looked so stressed, why he thought she looked familiar too…he must not have recognized her either. She wondered if he knew now.
What a fucking day.
She runs her hands through her hair. God…the memories she had with the Winter Soldier.
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